Day 9 – Where do the Children play?
First of all …
WELCOME! to everyone who joined us after watching yesterday’s YouTube video. We’re glad you are stopping by this cozy little corner of the internet and hope you’ll enjoy the ride! 🙂
We grew up on a lot of Cat Stevens’ music, so seeing today’s submission pop up made our day. After all, Lisa was named after a Cat Stevens song! “Where Do The Children Play” is a beautiful track off a beautiful album. Here is the link to the video for you to re-watch it:
Yusuf / Cat Stevens – Where Do The Children Play? (2020 Version)
If you want to see us talk more about Yusuf / Cat Stevens and how his music played a part in our life, you can check out the “What’s On The Table” episode we filmed last year.
Where did you play when you were a child? What adventures did you get up to? What trees did you climb up on and how many bones did you break? 😉
Let’s chat in the comments ♥
Mona & Lisa
I was a huge fan of Cat Stevens when I was in high school. I remember watching someone playing Moon Shadow and I had to learn it and still occasionally play it. Mona you are so right, when you get out in nature, there is something special about it…Peaceful
On the subject of what and where we found our entertainment and where were our FUN places. We were lucky to have grown up with 2 acres of land of our own to roam around with since we lived on what I considered to be the outskirts of the town we grew up in we thought we lived in the country. It wasn’t rural but the neighborhood wasn’t fully built out and there was a lot of woods to explore. Having 4 brothers also helped since we were always doing something sports oriented for entertainment at least. We had our own basketball team. Since few homes in Florida in those days 1950s and 60s had air-conditioning you didn’t stay indoors during the daytime because it was too hot. Our town was also located on the East coast of Florida and a few miles walk or bike ride would put us at the beach. We spent a lot of time at the beach on the weekends in those days as many locals did enjoying the water which was warm enough year round.
On our property we built treehouses, or dug bunkers and put palm frond thatched roofs on them which didn’t keep the rain out but we did it anyways since they had to be fortified against attack from other neighbor hood kids we played with…lol. We caught minnows in the canals and river and tried to keep them in the house but they always died it seemed. We made paper boats and raced them in the streams at the park or wherever we could find one. It’s interested when I explain to my kids and grandchildren that we didn’t have entertainment that came from microchips. We had to use our own imagination to fill the time and that was the challenge. What to do and not get killed doing it. It had to be exciting and usually physical or sports oriented since they were so many boys in my family. Catching fireflies, tadpoles, building our own kites and taking them to the park to fly where there wasn’t any trees to get stuck in. Lots of reading and acting out the plays were liked the best. And there was always music going around. We had my Grandmother’s piano to play and sing along to as we learned how to play. And also we were in the school band so we had a drummer, a trumpet player, a sax and I played trombone. Not quite enough for a band but music was a big part of our indoor entertainment. I don’t think we actually had a TV until I was 7 or 8 years old and it was Black and White baby. There were 3 networks and we surprising had our own local UHF TV station by luck and that TV went to bed at midnight but we were usually asleep by 9pm if it was a school night. So electronics wasn’t where we got our dopamine fix. Sports is most likely the greatest source of our natural tranquilizer. We’re they the GOOD OLD DAYS. For us kids they were but that’s because we didn’t have the responsibility of paying the bills and keeping food on the table which I will admit was limited many times. You didn’t dawdle around when dinner was served or you missed out on a lot of the meal. What we did have in abundance was love, support and lots of time with our family and friends and because of that we are still a close knit family even while we are now in our late 60s and early 70s.
I’ll end this with a riddle my Mother used to tell folks from time to time.
A woman had 6 children.
The first was born in 1949
the last was born in 1956
There was 3 years between the 3rd and 4th child.
There were no twins in the family. All single births.
How was that possible?
Of course the riddle was about her children of which I was child number 5. (I was actually introduced that way at times) Now go do the math.
All times are scary times to bring children into the world but that’s where the future lies. My Grandparents were concerned about how dangerous the world was when when my Mom was born since it wasn’t long after World War I ended and the Spanish Flu Pandemic. My parents also had great fears for what their children would face since we were all born in the decade after World War II and there were still so many childhood diseases that we faced growing up that were quite lethal or life debilitating such as Polio, German Measles, etc. Let’s not leave out practicing at school how to duck under your desk and kiss your ass goodbye in case of a nuclear bomb attack. So when it came time for my wife and I to start a family we took all of that knowledge and family history into account and we decided that it was far better to have loved and lost than not to have loved at all as the saying goes when it came to any children we would be blessed with and the anxiety that came with it. We did learn fast of the danger involved when we lost our first child to a miscarriage at 3 1/2 months (on my wife’s 26th birthday). We cried our hearts out and waited for a while and were eventually blessed with 3 darling children over the next 6 years. There are so many things that can go wrong during pregnancy that I consider the births of my children to be truly the only miracles that I have witnessed and it’s worth every bit of anxiety that goes with it. Now we have the next generation of Grandchildren and the anxieties that go along with wondering what kind of world they will grow up in and know it’s still worth the risk. “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”. John Lennon is credited with having come up with this expression, which has always been a favorite of mine, but it was a quote that was around in the late 1950s and 60s in various close versions. The closest being Life is what happens to us while we are busy making other plans. — Henry Cooke. 1963
So you’re concerns are the concern of certainly every generation and all periods in human history. I’ve always said “The Good Old Days” sucked if you really take the time to think about them. Being young and ignorant to many of life’s dangers and hazards is where that piece of nostalgic bliss comes from when we remember back. Times have always been tough if you honestly think back on them and bury yourself in it. You have to lift yourself above it everyday in everyway and keep positive. End of sermon…….
Always love hearing Cat Stevens and that song is great of course. Wonderful video!
As a kid we used to play in our backyard (you call it the “garden” in the U.K.) and we had a playground in our village and on Saturdays these ladies would come and let the kids do arts and crafts. Most of us just horsed around in our yards. We had a swing set and we used to play wiffle ball a lot and climb trees and ride our bikes all around.
As I got older I got interested in playing drums around age 9. Saw my older cousin Kevin playing one day when we visited and I wanted to do that too! I cobbled together a somewhat crappy kit a few years later and started playing with some friends that played guitar really well. We never really went anywhere. Was in a band in my 20’s but with the last band they were more interested in smoking pot than rehearsing so I quit and that was it. I tried pot back when I was 16 and got SO SICK off one toke and said no more of that crap for me.
Oh my what a great video Mona and Lisa. So for me? I grew up in a time that the sky scrappers , buildings etc were not like today and I did have a great time as a kid playing. We all gathered in my neighbor hood and just played all day, and a ma and pa store was near by to get goodies and had to go home when the street lights came on, but memories of those days are beautiful, we played at a playground and now there is a huge building there now. So sad to see that playground gone. We climbed tress and made tree houses and rode bikes etc….but so glad I grew up in that time. For Maddie? We have a nice house with plenty of yard to play in and the playground is 2 blocks from our house so although it is not like it was for me, it is pretty close. And yes no cell phones like today just plain going out with friends and playing from early day to evening.
Thanks ladies
Bill
Sorry for the chopped post…
I grew up in the city of Boston and we had attached houses the whole block and sidewalks out front. We did a lot of reading – actual books as there was a library across the street – and I think the many places books can take a young mind helped grow my imagination.
We played in schoolyards and playgrounds, and we had many local parks we could bike to and my parents took us to many local nature spots as we were never farther than a few miles from the beaches and Atlantic Ocean. We were lucky enough to get a vacation home on Cape Cod, a peninsula where whales come in the summer to feed and meet. We had so many wonderful weekend and summer times swimming and exploring the coast line, Tide pools, and so on.
I feel like I had the best of both worlds because the city offered so many cool options – professional sports, museums, concert venues – but we got to escape the city to a place where we had a yard and trees to climb (no broken bones) and become so attached to the ocean, and my family has my parents and all their efforts for their kids to be thankful for, so much like you appreciate the support of your parents.
I just love watching your sparkling eyes and lovely smiles as you see some video that speaks to you. Very cool ladies you are…
I grew up in the city of Boston and we had houses attached the whole block and just sidewalks out front. I gr
Very nice reactions to Where Do The Children Play.
I grew up next to a wood that had a pond with turtles and frogs and other such wildlife and we spent hours and hours watching them all and catching the frogs and letting them gp again.
When I was growing up the entire village here was the playground, including the actual playground at the elementary school. Lots of fun rides that have since been outlawed. Depending on the season we would slide on the local hills in winter, and the fire department would flood part of the village green for a skating rink.
There were several kids in our age range, and in summer we’d all leave our houses by 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning, not to return until dinner time, with lunch at someone else’s house. Five cent ice cream, fishing, and we would put on old sneakers (no socks) and float down the Tioughnioga River (tie-off-knee-o-gah) in old car tire inner tubes. We’d see turtle, herons, all sorts of wildlife. A time with that much freedom with so little responsibility will likely never come around again.
Here’s a couple of trees I use to climb back in the 60s
I think they are around 70 feet now (21 meters?)
The 2nd pic is the backyard I played in and had adventures
3rd is out my back window, a few days ago
Been here all my life– it ain’t so bad 😉
So glad you enjoyed the video.
If you have time, try to watch the “behind the scenes” videos for it (there are 4)
Seems the film crew went to a beach to gather actual garbage for the film.
The weren’t sure they would find enough.
Unfortunately, they found much more than they needed.
I love Yusuf/Cats page– so much hope still there.
I grew up in a small town. We played all over the place, the woods, the swamp, the creek, the ball fields, the playground, the pool. We would sled ride in my alley which has a nice hill. At 9:00pm, the fire alarm would sound once, this was a reminder to go home. Other than meals, we were gone all day. This was all before video games. It was a magical era, no organized activity, no parental supervision, we resolved issues the old fashioned way, and nobody got hurt seriously. By the time we were teens, we all got along and did everything together, and the boys of the town chased the girls of the town. For a small town of about 2000 people, we were blessed with more than our fair share of pretty girls. I married one of them. 41 years later, she is still a beauty.
At the time I was a child (circa 1960s), Oklahoma City, was still rural in some parts. Where we lived was considered the western edge of the city. And the end of the street there was large wooded area with a creek running thru the middle. We either called it His Majesty’s Forest. We would catch crawdads, and try to catch rabbits. Mostly all I caught was poison ivy. In the late 80s, the area was cleared for an industrial park. I was into “other things” by then. Oklahoma City is still a great place to raise kids. I pray it stays that way.
Lisa I am touched at your tears for the song. It is a beautiful, but also sad song. Maybeee you guys would considered do it as a duo session.
When I was a kid there was an early morning claymation show called Davy and Goliath (his dog). The stories had religious themes. I have a DVD set so I still watch therm.
Another maybeee suggestion – doing a cartoon version for “Jump Ship.” But just the ramblings of a south side Okie. lol. Peace Be.
I grew up in Wilmington, Delaware. Our house was only a few miles from where President Joe Biden now has a home. Our neighborhood had pretty large lots and was surrounded by a lot of relatively undeveloped areas. Our neighbors had a pretty big frog pond too. The Wilmington area is right in the middle of the Boston to Washington megalopolis, but it has some very rural areas. The “Pennsylvania Dutch” live nearby in Lancaster. They are not actually Dutch but rather Deutsch. Their horse-drawn buggies are common. We had multiple covered bridges nearby. It was a beautiful place to live and grow up.
I grew up in a small town where there wasn’t much to do other than play outside. My middle brother, our next door neighbor and I used to love “camping out” in our front yard. We would lay there and look at the stars in hopes of seeing a meteor streak across the sky. I always have, and still do love the outdoors.
Thank you, Lisa! ❤
Lisa, you are so right! And Mona, Dana said to tell you you are so right about turtles moving faster than expected! Dana remembers: “I would either go down to the creek, or I would go into one of the pastures where the cattle were”… there was one cow that would let her lay your head on her…”she would follow me around the farm like a little puppy dog, a very large puppy dog”. And I also was lucky to have a creek on the property of my mom and stepfather. We’ve always had cats and currently have two + our dog Fergus. Thanks for the video today! 🦉🦨
Cheers,
When I’m asked – Where did I Grow Up – I usually respond by saying – I haven’t grown up yet – I have matured a lot over the years, but I’ll always be a “kid at heart”. I have been known to be called Silly.
As a child, I lived on the Lower East Side of Manhattan (NYC), where there were only apartment buildings around and no private homes. We did have a nice size courtyard. There were plenty of trees and some grass areas and benches to sit on.
We played so many different things, such as – Tops, Yoyos, Marbles, Tag, Johnny on the Pony (where you could get your back broken lol), Skelly/Scully, Stickball, Boxball, Hide & Seek, Jump Rope, and Hopscotch.
We went Roller Skating – the old-fashioned type where you slide your foot (wearing your shoe) into the skate & tightened it with a key – like in the old song by Melanie called “Brand New Key”.
Just a couple of blocks away, there was a huge Park. There was a playground area with swings, seesaws, & monkey bars. There was also an Amphitheater where they had music performers (I saw Jackie Wilson there) and Shakespearean and other plays (I remember see Taming of the Shrew).
You could also walk down a road to the East River. We would walk on a path parallel to the river and watch boats go by.
During the Summer, I would go to upstate New York to the countryside.
I went to Camp for 2 or 3 weeks – first a camp in New Jersey and then A Boy Scout Camp in Narrowsburg, NY. It was great and I learned a lot, making campfires, cooking, building things, etc. We had a chance to shoot rifles at targets, skeet shooting, archery.
In the lake we could do swimming, row boating & canoeing. There were two huge canoes, they called War Canoes. It could hold at least 30 people. We would have races in the lake between the two canoes. It was so much fun.
Besides camp, I would spend weekends or weeks at my Uncle’s Farm. He owned over 100 aces, which was mostly an open field and forest land. He had a beautiful dog, but no other animals. But there were other farms, very close by, that had cows, chickens, & horses. One day I helped to milk some cows – most were done mechanically, except a really old cow that needed to be milked by hand.
So in conclusion (wow this is like a novella), being born & raised in a city can be fun. I think all areas probably have its pros & cons. One might think, oh my, he lived in an apartment building with 30 families, but it wasn’t that bad. Heck, I had so many friends in my neighborhood and four friends in my bldg.
We had small pets, such as, fish, birds, turtles, & a cat.
And as an adult, I did buy a home (but that’s a story for another time).
Oh and, just more thing, talking about upstate NY got me remembering an experience.
When I was a young adult, I (and a bunch of other folks) saw what definitely appeared to be a UFO. I was up in an area called White Lake. Flashing lights, moving very erratically in the sky. It was Not a plane, a helicopter, a balloon, a drone, nor ball lightning.
Have any one of you ever had an Encounter of the Third Kind?
Have a fantastic day,
Love & Peace to All,
Bobby S.
Super animation to a great song. I grew up in Holley New York, a small village surrounded by farmland (NY State isn’t all big city). The Erie Canal ran past our backyard, and me and my brothers would spend all summer playing on the towpath and in the woods by our house. My mom had a system where she would go out to the car and honk the horn twice. When we heard the two honks, it meant that it was time to go home for dinner. It was awesome. Our own little world all to ourselves.
Very well done video and realizing that it was partly claymation (Stop Motion animation) I remembered the old Saturday Night Live skits of “The Mr. Bill Show” and the “Wallace & Gromit” shows. I use to love to play with clay when I was young. I loved Cat Stevens back in the day and wore out several LPs of his.
I was an Air Force brat so we moved around alot. My entire childhood was based on playing outside (TV was a treat and tightly controlled by the parents; computers of course had not come around). I remember riding bikes alot and skateboarding down steep streets when we lived in the San Antonio suburbs. And when we moved to Cape Cod in the summer we were at the beach constantly and during the rest of the year the small town I lived in had tons of wide open spaces to play baseball, shoot your BB guns and just run around crazy!!!
Thanks again for this daily shot of joy!!
https://youtu.be/LflhfMx51Hk, sorry missed a letter
my friend of 50 years, Joe, as i told you during our video chat you ladies inspired me to write a few songs for the people i love during the pandemic and beyond, here is his song of friendship, enjoy https://youtu.be/LflhfMx51Hk
Very interesting video again today.
I loved to climb trees ,we had alot of them on our property. Never broke any bones falling out or a tree. But broke a arm playing a game called, Crack the whip.
I liked to build little houses to play in.
Also loved throwing a football around.
Oh to be young again, ha ha
Take care everyone !
We used to play hide and seek indoors when it was raining. There was this one time I hid in a wardrobe and had such adventures…lol.
i also built a fort/ hide away with my friends in the woods too, no curfew causes my dad knew that when the other kids had to go home i would have nothing to do, fun times that i fear kids today won’t be able to experience
I grew up in a very small town (only a few hundred people) and as mentioned, everybody knew everybody. Good or bad, we all knew everybody’s business. Summers we spent outdoors (the town was built alongside a large beautiful lake) playing outdoor games, swimming, playing on the community beach, running through sprinklers when it was hot, playing with our pets. My cousin and I would walk on the large shoreline walks coming home from school, we had family picnics with our family home-built boat, along with the aunt and uncle, neighbors and church groups.
We had a large black lab that was sort of harness trained and we rode a torpedo sleigh behind him in the winter. Not always successfully, I did say “partially” trained, so a 100# dog pulling a 50# six year old boy was often filled with excitement (or terror should a wayward cat enter the mix). We skated on the lake in and the outdoor rinks, we rode toboggans on hills.
We farmed just outside town, and raised chickens and turkeys in the pen in town (you could do that then). We had a large garden and Grampa next door had apple trees. Life was simpler then, and we didn’t have much money, but we were happy. We had patches on the knees of our trousers, but we were clean and never went hungry. Our little house was hot in the summer time, and cold in the winter, but we made do.
I often long for those days now, Mona mentioned the struggles of the world today, and that is very real. And yes, I think we would all love to see some little ones in your lives someday! Please, if it is in the cards for both of you, don’t be like my wife and I and wait too long and it doesn’t happen. Now on the cusp of our senior years, we are alone with no one to follow or care for us should the need arise (and it happens to all of us eventually). We are fine now, healthy and still pretty scrappy in our mid 60’s (that mid 60’s thing never seems to go away does it?) and we live life as fully and completely as we can. I have lived by a statement from my teens for several decades now: “Grab all the kicks you can baby, you only make this scene once!” And I think I have to add that Cat Stevens song to my repertoire!
Stay Groovy!
D
Our family moved a couple of times, so we got to play a lot of different places. We were terrible, getting into everything but mostly rode bikes and played street hockey or basketball/kickball.
One of the outdoor sports games we played was Pile….
The general idea of Pile was to have a real leather NFL football to play the game with, pick the teams members, define the boundaries in a front yard lawn, and then play by the rules except whoever got tackled, the rest of the players got to pile-on. Well, one day, I got the football, ran a few yards down the lawn, and for whatever reason everyone piled-on when my shoulders were perpendicular to the ground, and it finally cracked my collar bone. Needless to say, my parents were livid.
….that is so neat about Lisa’s name. I honestly all this time thought it was from Leonardo DaVinci.
MLT Club’s Advent Calendar is so reminiscent of The Beatles’s Christmas Albums each year!!!!!!!!!!!
Like you Twins, I was lucky to grow up where there was lots of space to play. We lived in or near the edge of small cities. I had three siblings by the time I started school, which increased in the end to 5 siblings. Dad worked out-of-town, and Mom was sometimes overwhelmed with all she had to do, so I was encouraged to get outdoors. New Mexico has a lot of public land, and it was our playground. Interestingly, there was a pond that was not too far away, and it had tadpoles. All the kids called it “Tadpole Lake”.
We later moved to California for a few years. We lived in the woods, right next to “The Noviciate”, a Catholic school for nuns I think. They had a vast estate that was largely unused, and it became part of our huge playground. I remember being able to climb almost any tree. My brother and I got to where we could climb up into the branches and “sleep” – wiry kids that could feel safe lying on a branch while hanging on with one hand. Yes, there are monkey genes in there somewhere.
We moved back to New Mexico for my last three years of high school. I found myself again spending lots of time outdoors in the open desert.
My first car was a jeep, expanding my play area, and today I still find lots of time to “play” outdoors.
Hello again. Getting myself ready to drive another 600 plus miles today heading towards Texas. An answer to some of your questions. I grew up first in the suburbs of the Chicago area. We got into mischief at 6 to 7 years climbing over fences to steal cherries and rhubarb. I also would buy illegal firecrackers and blow stuff up. While my Mother was a single Mother she worked as Police/Fire dispatcher in the day and at least 3 nights a week danced Jazz my natural father wrote for her in a Burlesque show. She was a functional Alcoholic for many years. She took us to the bars and I’d play with my older sister the bowling shuffle board game and play the Juke box. That’s why I know a lot of late 50s and early 60s music. I had an extreme speech impediment. Kids made fun. When I ran out of money, I would go around the bar speaking to the adults and get money for the Juke box. Actually, the best speech therapy I ever had. Jump ahead to my early 30s, I was drafted as an Army Recruiter and was the one that gave the speeches in public. LOL
We had a friend we called Jimbo. A Petty Officer in the Navy. He introduced my Mother to my Step Father. He later on in 1968 volunteered for Vietnam because he could not pass the Chiefs test. My Step Father was a Chief. That made me aware if my surroundings very early on. I was a serious child. I asked my Mother before she died if they ever found Jimbo. She said they had his SSN and never found him. He was so kind to my sister and I. I think of him every memorial day.
When my Dad retired, we moved to his very small hometown in upstate New York. I raised chickens and pigs and a very large garden. We canned and Froze our food every year. This is my early teens. Yes, I slaughtered chickens and the pigs for our consumption. It was there I picked up the trumpet and 2 years later I studied with the Catskill Concervatory and then 2 years of performance in college. I joined the Army Band program and met my wife in 1979. We married and had 2 children 10 years apart. After 8 years in the band I volunteered for the M1 Tank when it first came out. I was drafted as an Army Recruiter in the middle and Served in Desert Shield/Desert Storm. Now I drive truck for over 25 years now. I remember when I made my first recruiting phone call, I got an irrate Mother yell at me saying I’m a war monger with a lot of nasty language. I calmly told her that the individual soldier are the least to want war. However, prepared to go if called. We have to trust people like you to make good decisions in voting so we do not get called needlessly.
What I’m getting at is that all generations think we have it bad. We have it worse. But, if you stay scared, you will miss out of some very rewarding parts of what could be your life. No one knows the future. So, please live your life with no fear. Boy, Oldman got off on a tangent. Lol Peace. Stay safe. God Speed. Stay Groovy!❤️🌹🤘
I agree with you, Ken, about living without fear. In every time through history, parents have brought children into the world knowing that they would face some desperate and unhappy things. It is the scariest thing about being a parent because you so want everything to be safe and happy and good for your children. It will never always be those things though. It takes great courage to bring children into the world knowing how hard life can be. And right now, it feels as though things are about as bad as they could ever be! And yet, our world needs parents who are committed to raising children who will be strong enough, loving enough, and brave enough to change things for the better – just as they have done in every generation.
Growing up in the 60’s, we didn’t have phones or computers. A lot of time was spent outdoors. One of the things that the neighborhood kids used to do was play hide and seek. But on a bigger scale than most. We had several blocks that we could cover. Everyone knew everybody so nobody had any worries. There were no fences either in those days, we were out in the open. That surely couldn’t happen now. Fun times!
I grew up in the countryside, just outside a mid-sized city. There was plenty of room to run around, but unfortunately no one to run with. The nearest neighbors with kids were beyond walking distance, and I couldn’t do much outdoors with my siblings. My two sisters were much younger than I was, and my brother had asthma. So I learned to create fun activities for myself.
Often I would go outside armed with a tennis racket, a tennis ball, and a baseball glove. I’d lob the ball upward as high as I possibly could, and then try to catch it. The challenge was to launch the ball nearly vertically so that I didn’t have to chase after it. I lived for those rare perfect lobs where I could just pose underneath the ball and wait for it to come straight down.
I got a lot of exercise throwing a frisbee high into the air at a severe tilt so that it would come back to me. The tilt had to be just right to prevent a lot of running around, and it seldom was. This was especially challenging (and fun) on windy days.
I also improvised a golf hole by using an old 9-iron to whack a tennis ball around the house, with the starting point and the final target both being a telephone pole next to the driveway. There were some trees and a creek in play, so it wasn’t trivial. (Pro tip: compared to hitting a golf ball, you have to close the club face severely and hit it near the hosel.)
I grew up on the East side of St.Paul . The neighborhood I lived in was just being developed. We had swamps down the hill from us to explore, catch snakes and salamanders in the summer and skate on in the winter also a couple of neighbors had hills to sled down. There was an empty lot across the street from our school, we would play baseball and football there.A few years later our school bought the lot, fenced it in and made it into a park with a ball field. The parks ,shopping centers and little local stores and school were in walking or biking distance. It was a nice little neighborhood to grow up in.
Nice video…and I have never heard of this Cat Stevens song as well.
We were lucky as kids. Our grade school playground was simple, but had everything we needed: A baseball diamond, a large blacktop area to play street hockey, batters boxes painted against the school to play fastpitch, and a huge concrete wall in which ball games could be played on either side. The school is long gone, and only “The Wall” (as we called it) remains.
It was a great sports complex. It couldn’t get any better than that! 🙂
Wow, I hadn’t heard that song in 40 years or more and yet I was immediately singing along. I’m convinced that had it been the original version I would’ve remembered all the words. Back in the 70s I used to try to impersonate Cat Stevens. To my mind’s ear, I sound just like him, though other ears may disagree… The claymation was great. Seeing claymation this time of year reminds me of the Christmas specials that would always start playing on pre-cable TV this time of year. Another great day on the Advent calendar. 🙂
I was one of five kids growing up in, or just outside of, New Orleans. Never a rural environment–we played pick up football in a parking lot across the street–but we were also just a few blocks from the river. I remember going over the levee and into the small strip of woods to the banks of the Mississippi river, probably a much riskier activity than I could imagine. My grandmother had a farm in Mississippi, so when we’d visit we could hang out with the cows or go through the woods exploring.
We also moved north for a couple of years and had a huge suburban yard that flowed into the next huge suburban yard. That was my first experience with snow and sliding down hills and that sort of thing. There was also a gravel pit and a golf course a short bike ride away, so lots of time spent finding fossils and lost golf balls.
Of course all of this was pre-cable TV and pre-internet, so going outside is what we did. There’s plenty to explore and plenty of nature to experience even in the deepest urban setting, for the kid who is determined to do so.
Hello Ladies,
Such an interesting concept for today’s Video.
I moved so much when I was younger. Every 2 years until I was 17.
I with my brother would make friends and play in the back yards, in New houses that were being built, near areas that had not been developed, in the street, where ever we could find.
We stayed very busy and couldn’t come in till dark. I’d we wanted to play after dark we had to have permission and stay where we could be seen. Our Sister did her own thing.
Have a Groovy Day and look forward to tomorrow.
Rick Ross
Back then it was safe to play just about anywhere in my small West Virginia town. Over at friend’s houses or at the school yard playing basketball. We also had a basketball court in the backyard of my house. We rode our bikes anywhere in town. We ran around in groups and friend’s mothers were like 2nd ‘moms’ to us. We would go out and had to be home when the outside lights came on. Truly a simpler and safer time. Mike.
i live in countryside and perhaps took it for granted as a child but my friend’s father was a farmer so we grew up making dens with hay bales and often helped feeding goats and I remember becoming quite fond of a baby goat who wouldn’t feed from its mother so we fed it with a baby bottle till it got older. Really haven’t thought about that in years.
This is a great way to portray the world that we live in. I’m having a difficult time with how things are going in the world, which is why I’m so glad that all of your content makes me happy. And I definitely agree about the challenges of bringing up children today, I have looked after two children weekly for about 5 years until they went to high school and didn’t really need me to babysit them anymore, and the way they spent their free time was already so much different from how I grew up. they’re all about their phones nowadays and spend so much time inside which just feels so different from how I grew up.
I always played outside with all the kids from the same street and from school, and during school breaks, we played in this fairly big playground and we just made up stories and games. I also remember playing video games but I preferred playing outside with other kids.
I grew up with a lot of animals, dogs, horses, rats, and hamsters, and I believe that growing up with animals, and indeed, now spending time with animals is so fulfilling and exactly what you described. I took care of a butterfly once who wasn’t able to fly anymore, and even though I couldn’t do much with it, as you did with Neve, it still felt amazing to see it get stronger and when I released it, it could fly away and that felt so wholesome.
I grew up close to the city and now I live pretty much next to a forest which is just the best!
I’ve loved the music of Yusuf/Cat Stevens since childhood but didn’t know this song. The video and the song are both very beautiful and sad, although I appreciated the hopeful ending. I understand the concerns anyone would have about bringing children into the world right now – it seems like a daunting challenge during very unhealthy times, At the same time, children are our hope!
I was blessed to grow up for my first 7 years in the countryside of eastern Ontario, Our property had a creek running along one side where we fished, skated in winter, and discovered all sorts of wildlife, including giant snapping turtles. Along the other side was a farmer’s field and the cows used to greet us at the fence. Nearby was a forest where we hiked with our parents. After that idyllic beginning, we moved to a small town which had 3 beautiful natural parks as well as plenty of nearby conservation areas. Our free time was spent almost entirely outdoors, building forts, etc.. For me, this often looked sitting high up in a tree, contemplating my kingdom! As a girl guide (scout), I did a lot of wilderness camping too. I feel very blessed to have grown up immersed in the natural world!
I like this video, but never heared this song, I really like it.as a kid I used to play in the woods . My house was just a few hundred meters from a small wood. As soon as school ended we were outside to built some huts or play hide and seek or make campfires. Its there that I got my interest for wildlife. I agree with the twins that being in nature makes you feel balanced and makes you feel that life has so much more to offer than material things. Today still i can get happy or relaxed when I see green landscapes and blue waters and clear streams.
I grew up in a small village in Lincolnshire surrounded by farm land. I knew everybody’s name that lived in the village. We would walk miles along the hedgerows in the fields. Occasionally getting chased by the Farmer but mostly they didn’t mind. The rail line ran through the village, this was in the time of steam trains, we would play under the bridge, when a train came we had to run and hide as it passed. My father would grow all the vegetable’s in our garden we had pigs and chickens. It was mine and my brothers job each week to clean out the pigs and chickens, for that we got pocket money .No computers and in the early part of my life no television or telephone. seemed such a simple life compared to today.
Wow what a different time that was. I love that you grew your own food and kept your own animals. It makes you so much more connected to the things that you eat and the way you appreciate them. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Craig- Its a great video and a poignant song tackling pollution and plastics in our world. Coincidentally Yesterday I had a strum session on my guitar and played ‘Father and Son’ and ‘Moon-shadow’ another couple of great songs by the great man.
As for playing as a child, I was fortunate to live on an avenue where there was lots of kids and we had open fields opposite our house with a stream running through and small hills.We used to play jumping over the stream- often falling in!! And we used to make carts using scrap wood and old pram wheels, and would ride them down the hills. Cuts and bruises were the norm but we never learned! Like someone once said “And we laughed when our tongues got stuck to the ice, yes it hurt but we still did it twice”.
Thanks for yet another fab day x
There are so many great Cat Stevens songs to strum along to. Lots of great ones for finger-picking too! I love the sound of your childhood ♥
Thats a lovely song and great video with some important messages for the people of today. We also had a large garden to run about and play in but also a play park (with swings etc) just up the road (annoyingly built over by new houses now). I could also ride my bike around the estate although it was very hilly. Inside we had a large attic so could set up a train set and play with model trains (still do!). We have a couple of large public parks in the town with a boating lake so could row around the swans who lived in the island in the middle. Very dangerous though when it iced over in winter. There was also lots of areas to play football or visit the chickens and pheasants in a mini-zoo. It is sad to see people controlled by their phones now and not getting out into nature.
As a kid, I liked to play inside – at my own home or my friends’, at the kindergarten, at my grandparents’… My mothers’ parents lived in the old school house of their village at that time (they both used to be teachers there) and we visited them a lot at the weekends and in the holidays. It had an attic full of the most interesting things to discover and an almost fairytale-like garden. My great-grandmother had designed the part with the box-trees.
Now that my grandfather has passed away and my grandmother is older, she lives in a home in Berlin very close to my parents, which is nice. It was kind of hard for me to let go of this house, but now it is home to a family with four kids and a dog – I know it is time for them to have their own adventures at this magical place 🙂
Here are some pictures.
What aa magical place! I can understand your not wanting to let go of it! It must be a comfort though to imagine other children enjoying it.
Yes, it is 🙂
What a beautiful place!
I had not heard this version before either. The animated video is so well done. Another day, another lovely video!
As a kid I spent the time I wasn’t in school at my grandparents’ farm. My brother is a year older so as kids we were always together. Since I’m taller, people always thought we were twins.
I liked horse riding more than my brother, so I would go off on my own quite often. Being around horses that much, I got thrown off many times, kicked, stepped on, you name it. Also, got knocked around quite a bit playing rugby. Stitches, concussions, torn ligaments, but never broken bones (knock, knocking on wood!).
There was also a big lake near by, where we would spend the hot summer days fishing, swimming and sailing.
I do feel very lucky to have had that, especially the really healthy food, which has paid off nicely in the long run.
No computers back then, so it was sticks of every shape (those were our ‘handheld devices’) and we’d make tree houses and shelters all over the place. Hence, there was always the obligatory bath before dinner.
The advent calendar is always so endearing. Thank you!
Number 9, number 9, number 9.
Stick as “handheld devices”! I love it!
A groovy happy day to all! I haven’t heard that Cat Stevens song before, but I like it, it’s really beautiful and the animated video is amazing. I felt a let’s be kinder to our environment message in the song. Great video Chris.
I remember when I was in early elementary school, we lived in these apartments, right next to the elementary school, in fact the playground was right in front of our apartment, and going to school meant literally going out the front door and over the fence. So it was awesome having a big school playground as my backyard. That’s where I met one of my best friends that I still see to this day. We use to play hockey in the little basket ball court there, and all the neighbourhood kids had bicycles, so we had great adventures chasing each other around on the bikes. Me and my friends were a little more adventurous so we went to places that my parents would have fainted if they found out. Maybe my later love of road trips and exploring started there.
Thanks for another fabulous Advent Calendar day!
I had an amazing day yesterday. After going down memory lane posting my childhood memories of the old apartment where I lived and the old school I went to, I was in that part of the city again for something else and I decided to swing by. Was so glad to see my old apartment, 52 years later still kept up good and people living there. The old elementary school just across from the apartment I heard several years ago was closed down and I was saddened then, but to my delight it reopened again, and is a private elementary school. I noticed the ladies in the school office look out at me standing in front of there, so I took a quick picture and left. Maybe I’ll go back on a weekend. I should have gone in and introduced myself and let them know I went to Kindergarten there 52 years ago. That would have been a big kick I bet. Was so amazing to walk around the places I use to play as a child so long ago, a lot of things still exactly as I remember.
Here are pictures by my old apartment home, and in front of the school.
Love the Advent Calendar, always so uplifting, and can be an unexpected blessing.
good morning everyone when I was a child I played baseball in the street with my brothers, cousins and neighbors.
It was a crossroads and the four corners were the bases, we played with a sponge ball and the bat was our hands.
the out could be touching the runner with the ball or if necessary he could be hit with a ball while running.
As for today’s video and all the previous ones, I love how you enjoy them while watching them.
Oh that brings back memories. Same rules.
It will only remain in memories, I think I will never see children playing like this again.
Wow. Had not heard that version before. I love it! I’m not usually fond of “remakes” but this is lush and beautiful. And so is the video! I grew up with Cat Stevens as well. Tea for the Tillerman and Teaser and the Firecat were what got me through high school with my sanity. I’ll definitely be putting this on my playlists.
As for the growing up questions, a poem I wrote in 2003 best sums it up:
http://rogerpenn.org/poetry/twelve.html
Hey that’s awesome Roger! I saw a Tom Sawyer-ish image in you beautiful poem. That reminded me of a time when I was really little the place we lived (Washington State) my parents planted corn in a small plot, and I loved running around in the corn patch which was much taller than me, felt like a forest, and I could hide in there.
I was always afraid I’d get trapped and never find my way out. Which is of course silly. But when you’re little and can’t see anything in any direction but corn…
Your poem is evocative of my youth! Thank you for sharing it!
Poems can say so much!